Children at the meetings...

by desib77 10 Replies latest jw friends

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  desib77

  I've noticed quite a few "meetings" threads lately and thought I would add another one.

  I remember when I was young, 8-12 years old, my mother would see a sister take her baby or children to the back. My mom would get up and go back there with her. Usually, 10-15 min. later my mother would come back to our seats carrying the other sister's baby. A lot of times the baby would sit on my mom's lap and not act up for the rest of the session....(I think this had to do with me sitting right next to her and playing with the baby). I had seen other sisters do this, also.......I have to wonder now, though, how many sisters may have been offended by my mother.

  Did anyone else ever do this?
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  betty boop

  i did this alot!! when i was young it was my mom who did it and i stayed amused by the baby the rest of the meeting. after i got older and id go to the bathroom and find a mom with an infant id be like can i take him/her for abit usually theyd say yes very gratefully..it made the time pass alot quicker..if the baby cried the mom would get him/her from me but usually they were ok..as long as they had something to play with while they sat with me they didnt cry
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  Cicatrix

  I was never offended when others offered to help. The problem I had was that I would get pulled aside and "counseled" by the elders that my children should remain with me at my seat during the meetings. Even though I had five small children. Even though I brought those five small children by myself to the meeting. This only happened in one congregation I attended, though. At the other, they seemed to care more about families, and it was permissable and encouraged for others to help with the children.
  
  At the "counseling" congregation, my daughter and I tried to help out the young mothers, and we were told that there were certain people "assigned" to help out, and that we were not to take the children. Scarily enough, one of the people who was assigned to help is a man I suspect is a pedophile (his own grandaughter said that he had abused her).
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  desib77

  Scarily enough, one of the people who was assigned to help is a man I suspect is a pedophile (his own grandaughter said that he had abused her).

  It doesn't seem appropriate for them to appoint any brother to help with the children.....I certainly wouldn't have handed my child over to them....(if I had one).
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  desib77

  The problem I had was that I would get pulled aside and "counseled" by the elders that my children should remain with me at my seat during the meetings.

  I sort of remember talks about children sitting with their parents. Not so much as babies but older children. I used to like to have my friends sit with me at the meetings until talks started coming out about it.
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  simplesally

  I was not offended most of the time. One sister though, she watched Teryn during the day..3 days a week...., I didn't like it when she would try to take Teryn. My baby would be perfectly content but this sister 'missed' my baby. Sometimes I just said no, that I was fine. Sometimes, she would seem Teryn was 'our' baby.
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  desib77

  I was not offended most of the time. One sister though, she watched Teryn during the day..3 days a week...., I didn't like it when she would try to take Teryn. My baby would be perfectly content but this sister 'missed' my baby. Sometimes I just said no, that I was fine. Sometimes, she would seem Teryn was 'our' baby.

  I wouldn't have liked that either. Actually, I don't think I would have liked any of the "sisters" trying to take my baby away even if they were fussy. What baby wouldn't be fussy at a meeting?
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  Country Girl

  Not to hijack the thread... but my Mother had six kids. I was the oldest girl, and when I was older I could handle it. But when I was just a wee tiny girl, one brother took me outside the Kingdom Hall, in front of all the neighborhood, and spanked my behind, right there on the porch. It was so humiliating! I never forgot that. However, I got my revenge when the Kingdom Hall got new "naugahyde" seats. Orange, no doubt. I encouraged my little brother to bite through it and take out chunks of naugahyde and foam. I also encouraged them to write on the seats with pen. They were just little guys, but I never tried to stop them. THey were just experimenting with their artistic skills.. SNORT! We *all* got spankings when we got home from every meeting, so I figured we may as well get spanked for SOMETHING. I got a spanking for never stopping them, and they got a spanking for doing it.

  My Mother is such a JW lackey. If someone said take the poison, she'd do it. She'll never change. She has an (professed) IQ of 146, and I still think she is the most ignorant person that I've ever met. How an a person with that much smarts be *so* JehovaWitnesscized?

  CG
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  dh

  i know a bro (now an elder) who used to take other peoples kids out back and give them a thrashing if they were acting up (being overtly noisy) and the parents weren't doing anything about it.

  due to a weird sleep pattern that i have i was always very tired in meetings and so was known for falling asleep! this got me in trouble no end.
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  simplesally

  Desi, after a hard day's work, rushing home, feeding baby, getting ready for meeting and finally getting there and the baby fusses...well, sometimes it was nice that a friend would take her and walk in the back with her.......it was nice to be able to finally just 'sit down' and worry about just me.